European Attendances : 1995-2017

The series on the history of elite European attendances in the Super League competition has come to a close. It started back for the 1995-99 period which can be seen by clicking here. Some may decry the current attendance figures but how have gone for the last 20 odd years?

The chart below is divided into five year bites both for space limitations and to take out yearly fluctuations. From this an interesting trend emerges. The 1995-99 period, Super League attendances were a very ordinary 6,440. The 2000-04 went up to 7,410, then 2005-09 a record 9,370. It fell back to 8,770 between 2010-14 but the last three years (less the Super 8s in 2017) it has come back to 9,230. So they are much improved to say twenty years ago.

Clearly there has been an improvement across the board. Why has it seemly hit a ceiling? The most obvious reason is many towns have reached a saturation point that will be hard to make gains of much substance in future. The loss of Bradford was a blow as well. So what can move it along?

New clubs like Toronto could have much larger gate numbers if the public interest lifts as the standard of opposition teams improves with promotion upwards. Another club from France would be welcome but is unlikely to improve the average. If some rich billionaires do a Toronto and introduce clubs to cities such as New York, Moscow, Turin and Barcelona then that would be another chance to lift the average. Of course, cities in the UK such as Bath/Bristol could come into the mix.

In other words, if the game stays as it is regarding teams based in North English towns then now will be as good as it gets. Spreading the net wider is an obvious way forward. RL should always keep its roots in the North of England and some teams along the M62 corridor should be in the top flight. However, there is scope for expansion and that is something the game needs.

It would bring in more gate receipts and result in improved TV deals as a wider audience becomes familiar with this exciting game. Sponsorship opportunities would improve. RL is physical and the players are not that well compensated financially in comparison to other professional games. I think the attendance number highlights the need for moving Super League to another level of exposure.

SL Attendances 1995-17
Rk	Team	15-17	10-14	05-09	00-04	95-99
1	Leeds	15,288	15,113	16,613	13,232	11,260
2	Wigan	13,519	15,376	14,598	10,996	10,160
3	Hull FC	11,321	12,071	12,511	8,410	4,999
4	St Helens	11,148	11,239	10,613	9,444	8,320
5	Warrington	10,272	10,726	10,100	7,226	5,098
6	Catalan	8,764	8,080	8,062	-	-
7	Hull KR	7,698	7,937	8,079	-	-
8	Castleford	7,744	6,756	7,362	7,230	5,472
9	Leigh	6,301	-	4,736	-	-
10	Widnes	5,673	6,020	6,794	6,371	-
11	Huddersfield	5,694	6,995	6,775	4,040	4,436
12	Wakefield	4,699	6,561	6,040	4,142	4,181
13	Salford	3,766	4,478	4,642	4,232	4,800
14	Bradford	-	9,766	11,351	13,257	11,260
15	Crusaders	-	3,997	3,668	-	-
16	London	-	2,559	3,913	3,458	3,996
17	Halifax	-	-	-	4,411	5,017
18	Paris SG	-	-	-	-	6,768
19	Sheffield	-	-	-	-	4,081
20	Gateshead	-	-	-	-	3,888
21	Oldham	-	-	-	-	3,550
22	Workington	-	-	-	-	2,684
	Total	8,981	8,770	9,369	7,411	6,443

The list was updated 14/11/17 to cover the full 2017 season. It covers the super 8's matches for those sides that participated in them and all the qualifier games.  It was also updated on the 21/03/19 for minor corrections of the 1995-99 figures for some clubs.